After just another walk in my neighborhood,
and finding an old foot locker, I finally check what's inside.
Cryptic signs: WATCH YOUR HEAD and
BE YOUR TRUE SELF,
okay, these are worth saving and posting in the house.
a photocopy of a photograph:
a child in a wheelchair, small chubby arms reaching
towards the camera or perhaps the photographer,
slightly out of focus and taken at an odd angle
a three foot long black tube with a label that reads:
ulano
CDF/5VT
CDF DIRECT-FILM SYSTEM
50 MICRON COATING
-VERY THICK-
further information includes contact numbers
about the Brooklyn, NY office and the Schlieren, Switzerland office,
as well as an emergency phone number
and warning regarding storage of the product,
which is still in the container.
For the heck of it, I google ulano and find a very informative website,
most of which makes little sense, but find interesting on a rainy day.
Unfolded, at the bottom of the foot locker, there are
a few travel pages from The Sunday New York Times, dated January 15, 1956,
with large ads for PanAm, grand hotels and cruises for low prices
compared to current standards, and all the meals are free.
I was hoping for an old military uniform, or love in worn envelopes,
a hint of where this foot locker had been, who had taken it to war,
which war, and whether they made it back alive.
The only clue was two barely legible shipping labels,
AMERICAN RAILWAY EXPRESS CO.
shipped by and for, written in pencil, only a few single letters still readable.
the date and value left empty, the city typed in red, JERSEY CITY.
Looking closer, the lock is from Eagle Lock Co., Terryville, Conn., US
and the golden eagle on the front has three stars above it,
clutching an olive branch in one talon, three arrows in the other.
It is not painted, as I originally thought, but a decal.
I have looked up the Eagle Lock Company before, established in 1833,
incorporated in 1854, and closed in 1954,
because this is the fifth trunk, foot locker, or hope chest that I've
crossed paths with. Each one has been quite different, with its own story or
mystery. But though they all have similar locks, there are no keys needed.
Each one, each time, I am searching for something more than I find.
Call it completeness, call it curiosity, call it something unimportant.
I just call it hope.
if any military history enthusiasts could shed light on the eagle design,please msg me